Free and Cool Defrag Utility For Windows

PC slowing to a crawl? Want to speed up that hard disk drive access to files? Ever wanted a good freeware utility that can defrag hard disk drives in Windows effectively (better than the default Windows defrag) but don't know where to get it? Well, turns out that there are quite a number of freeware defrag tools for Windows on the Internet e.g. jkdefrag, ultradefrag, diskeeper lite etc.

After a fair bit of research and trials, i settled for JKDefrag. Reasons: It works on Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008/X64, is stable, reliable, under constant development, defrags and optimizes disk performance (almost) flawlessly, and it's FREE. The FREE part is persuasive but it is not the only reason. JKDefrag can deliver on most of the key performance parameters that paid commercial ware such as Diskeeper touts, including the "schedule and forget" feature when used in conjunction with another freeware like nnCron lite. You can read more about nnCron lite in my other postings.

Here's what i do to put JKDefrag to work. First, download and unzip it to the directory of your choice (no install or setup required). There are 2 "versions" of JKDefrag that you can choose to run - the GUI version (JkDefrag.exe) or the command line version (JkDefragCmd.exe).

I went for the command line option as it allowed me to piece together all the options that I need in a simple batch file and schedule it to defrag my harddisk everyday with nnlite. For first time run, this was the command that i use to defrag 2 hard drive partitions (c: and d:)

First time run -> JkDefragCmd.exe -a 7 -d 2 c:* d:*

For subsequent runs, this is the command that i use:

Subsequent runs -> JkDefragCmd.exe -a 3 -d 2 c:* d:*

You can find more details about the meaning of each parameter from the JKDefrag homepage at http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/.
Latest version of JKDefrag at the time of this writing is V3.36.

Note: In order to perform defragmentation effectively, it is generally recommended that you maintain at least 15% of free disk space.

What Software to Install in Freshly Setup Windows PC

If you have ever wondered about what software applications to load into a freshly installed Windows PC, here's a list of what i personally use for you to consider:

(1) Web Browser
     - Mozilla Firefox
     - Google Chrome

(2a) Email client
     - Mozilla Thunderbird

(2b) Personal Calendar/To-do Application
     - Mozilla Sunbird
     - Alternative1: Lightning extension, if using Thunderbird email client
     - Alternative2: Google Calendar

(3a) Download Manager
     - Free Download Manager (supports BitTorrent also)
     - Orbit Downloader (for media content downloads)

(3b) Lightweight Torrent Client
     - uTorrent

(4) Text Editor
     - Notepad ++

(5) PDF Reader
     - PDF-XChange Viewer (free version includes some features to edit PDF files)

(6) PDF Tools
     -CutePDF (PDF virtual printer; install ghostscript first!)
     -PDFTK Builder

(7) Security
     - Comodo Internet Security (Free Firewall & Antivirus)
     - Secunia PSI (free for personal use. Checks and provides advice on security status of installed applications.)

(8) Zipping Utility
     - Peazip

(9) File Encryption (& Wiping) Utility
     - WinPT (Windows Privacy Tool)
     - GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard)

(10a) System Optimization Tools
     - RegCleaner
     - ccleaner
     - Click&Clean
     - NTRegOpt (NT Registry Optimizer; works with XP)
     - JKdefrag
     - Autoruns
     - nnCron Lite (automation task scheduler)
     - PageDefrag

(10b) Backup software
     - cwrsync (see posting on how to install and use it)
     - Alternative: consider trying Unison

(10c) Microsoft Powertoy
     - cmdHere

(11a) CD/DVD Burner
     - CDBurnerXP

(11b) Useful DVD Tools
     - DVDflick (DVD Creator)
     - DVDshrink (DVD duplicator)
     - VirtualDub (converter/editor)
     - MPegStream Clip (converter/editor)

(12) Desktop Organizer
     - Fences (by Stardock)

(13) File Manager
     - FreeCommander

(14) File Transfer Client
     - Winscp
     - FileZilla

(15) Video Player
     - VLC Media Player (from VideoLAN)

(16) Image Editor
     - GIMP
     - Alternative: GIMPShop (menus customized to emulate Photoshop)
     - PhotoFiltre (lightweight image editing application)
     - paint.net

(17) Virtualization Software
     -VirtualBox (free only under PUEL)
     -Qemu Manager

(18) Office Suite (Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation)
     -OpenOffice 3.x
     -odf-converter-integrator (OpenOffice add-on for converting MSOffice Files)

Speeding Up Internet Downloads

Downloading stuff

Downloading stuff from the Internet is a common act of online activity, that happens ever so often when one connects and surfs the Net. Ever wondered how one can speed up the time to download that huge file? Generally, using an appropriate download manager can sometimes increase the speed of download significantly.

Having tried out various download managers over the years, I have recently (past 1 year) settled for the "Free Download Manager" a.k.a. FDM in Windows (I use AXEL for Linux). Besides supporting the usual plethora of features including (a) broken download resumption, (b) HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent protocols, (c) Flash Video download (d) being completely FREE etc, what makes this program attractive is that it allows users to configure just how fast it should perform its download.

Where to Get FDM?

Here is where you can grab the FDM installer.


Get Free Download Manager

After downloading, run a viruscan on the file to ascertain that it is virus free. If so, proceed to install following the on screen instructions.

How To Increase the Download Load Speed?

Once installation is complete, fire up the program by doubleclicking the FDM program icon. When loaded, a program icon resembling a diskette with an arrow will appear in the Windows Taskbar (bottom right hand corner). Click on that and the main program User Interface will appear.

Next, head for the menu bar and click Options > Settings. In the window that pops open, look for Downloads Category in the left window panel and click on Network option.

For my Traffic Usage Mode, I set the Heavy Mode as follows:

     Maximum number of connections: 100
     Maximum number of connections per server: 20
     Maximum number of running downloads: 5

Get FDM to Work With Your Browser

In the same Downloads Category in the left window panel of the program UI, look for and click on the option called Monitoring. A list of supported browsers including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari etc will be shown here. Check all those browsers that you wish to use with FDM.

That's all. Happy Downloading!

Remove Unnecessary Startup Programs With Autoruns

What is Autoruns?

In my earlier posting, I mentioned that I use Autoruns to manage the list of startup programs in Windows. So, what is it? In short, Autoruns is a nifty little program that functions like MSConfig - the built-in tool that Microsoft allows you to turn on/off startup programs by checking/unchecking them. The huge difference lies in that Autoruns delves a lot deeper and doesn't nag at you (which MSConfig does) after each Windows re-start.

Where to get it?

A copy of Autoruns can be obtained from Microsoft Technet. It is made available for download as a zipped file.

Installation and Basic Use

After downloading the Autoruns zipped file, unzip it to the directory of your choice. That's it. No further installation requirements. To start using the Windows GUI version of the program, simply double click the Autoruns.exe file (icon).

At first glance, the depth of information provided by Autoruns may appear daunting to the casual PC user. However, if one simply intends to use Autoruns to manage startup programs effectively, one only has to concern oneself with entries in the EVERYTHING tab.

To locate the programs that have configured themselves to startup automatically, trot over to the EVERYTHING tab, look for entries under the following sub-headings:

   (a) HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
   (b) C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
   (c) C:\Documents and Settings\UserNameProfile\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Experiment with turning off those programs you deem unnecessary by unchecking the boxes next to them, and see if disabling these affect your PC after reboot. If they do, all you need to do is run Autoruns again and turn them on by checking those boxes. However, if disabling these programs do not hinder your PC activities and help in speeding up PC boot time, you may even consider deleting them from the registry (just highlight the entry and hit delete).

Happy exploring.

Simple and Effective PC Backup

General information:

Backing up files on your PC's hard disk is an essential task if you wish to preserve your cherished data against hard disk failure. There are many ways of doing this and Windows comes default with its own backup utility. My preferred way is using a neat little utility called cwrsync.

The advantage of using cwrsync is that it is a highly configurable program with a small footprint, and supports incremental backup. What the latter means is that the backup utility only copies files that have changed. Translating this into PC performance, this means that the time required to complete backup activities over time will be considerably shorten. Best of all, the program works on Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP/2003.

Download and Installation:

(a) You can grab the installer here. Once downloaded, scan to make sure the package in virus free and if so, extract the zipped contents to some folder e.g. c:\temp.

(b) Once extracted, double-click the installer to start the installation. You can accept the default install program directory (c:\Program Files\cwrsync) or specify somewhere of your preference.

(c) Once the installation completes, navigate to the installed \cwrsync program directory (e.g. c:\Program Files\cwrsync). You should find a file called "cwrsync.cmd".

How to Use cwrsync:

Suppose you wish to back up files from a folder on your hard disk located at "c:\MyFolder\" to a USB hard drive, this is what you can do:

(a) Open the cwrsync.cmd file using a text editor

(b) Scroll to the bottom of the file

(c) Add and save the following entry in the "cwrsync.cmd" file:
     rsync --progress --stats -aztr /cygdrive/c/MyFolder /cygdrive/g/BackUp

When keying in the above entry, pay attention to the forward slashes (/) and the word /cygdrive. Simply stated, what the above entry does is to copy contents (files and sub-directories) from location "c:\MyFolder" into location "g:\BackUp".

In the above example, "g:" is my external USB hard drive and "\BackUp" is a sub-directory that I have created inside my "g:" drive to store my backup.

You can create more entries by adding and modifying the above command line.

It's that simple. Enjoy!

10 Things To Consider When Performing Fresh Windows Installation

(1) Gather Device Drivers for Your PC

By this, I mean to make sure that you have or are able to get hold of the relevant hardware device drivers. These would typically include, (a) Network Card Driver (if it is not a standard one from Broadcom, RealTek etc), (b) Graphics Adaptor Driver, (c) Root USB Drivers (d) Additional Motherboard Drivers (depending on your PC Motherboard).

(2) Choose Format Hard Disk File System as NTFS

NTFS should be selected as it offers security features and better use of hard disk resource than FAT. As to whether or not to further encrypt the file system is a matter of one's level of risk acceptance towards the stored data. For instance, if the file system contains confidential information sitting in a notebook, one might consider encrypting the file system to prevent unauthorized access to this information in event of loss of notebook. Furthermore, select Fast Format only if you are sure that the hard drive has no bad sectors. Otherwise, choose the standard format.

(3) Create a Pagefile of suitable size

A pagefile is needed to provide "additional" memory for running programs to supplement systems that have less than 1GB of physical RAM installed. Without a pagefile in Windows, system performance could likely suffer. Microsoft recommends that one should create a Pagefile of at approximately 1.5 times the amount of available physical RAM. For instance, if the PC has 512MB of physical RAM installed, then the size of Pagefile to create on the hard disk should be approximately 1.5GB. However, if the amount of Physical RAM is 1GB or greater, it seems that a Pagefile of size that is equal to the amount of physical RAM available is sufficient. Remember to format the pagefile as NTFS file system as well.

(4) Dedicate a Separate Partition for Pagefile

To avoid having Windows arbitrarily insert the Pagefile into anywhere in the hard disk space, consider creating a dedicated partition for the pagefile. If the system has more than 1 physical hard disk, put this "Pagefile" Partition on the first hard disk. As for the size of the partition required, refer to paragraph (2) above as a guide.

(5) Install Antivirus and Turn on Firewall First

Before engaging in any heavy internet activity with the newly setup Windows PC, be sure to install an effective Antivirus software and to turn on the Firewall. If you need a piece of high quality Antivirus and Firewall freeware, see my posting on the Comodo Internet Security Suite. After installing the Antivirus and firewall software, go online and grab the updates. For the security conscious, do a full system scan once the updates are installed.

(6) Install Relevant Hardware Drivers

Remember the hardware drivers that you have gathered in Step (1)? Well, now is the time to install them if you need to. How would you know whether this step is necessary? Here's how. Navigate to the Control Panel > Double-click "System" icon > Click on "Hardware" Tab > Click on "Device Manager" button. In the ensuing screen, if there are any question marks panel, that would be an indication that a device driver is missing and requires installation.

(7) Perform Operating System Update

Next, perform a System Update. To do that, click START->Microsoft Update, and follow the instructions on screen. To save time on system updates, consider creating a Windows Installation CD/DVD slipped stream with the latest service pack first, before attempting to carry out the fresh Windows installation. (future posting on this planned)

(8) Carry Out Hard Disk Defragmentation

After completing the System updates, carry out hard disk defragmentation. While some may argue that this step is optional, defragging the system early on (like now) could go some distance in saving one time as compared to choosing to do system defrag way after the PC is loaded with tonnes of software. For tips on Windows defragmentation, see my posting on Defragging Windows.

(9) Install Key Apps and Useful Tools

At this stage, this is where you may wish to install your basic list of essential applications e.g. Microsoft Office, Open Office, Java Runtime Environment, Flash Plugins, Browser, Email clients etc. Consider putting useful System Optimization Tools into the new PC to facilitate periodic maintenance of the PC to keep its running performance smooth and optimal. For a list of tools that I find useful, see my posting on PC Speed Tips. Once complete, perform a system optimization.

(10) Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs

In this final step, perform a review of the startup programs to access their necessity for loading at startup. Turning off those non-essential startup apps e.g. MSN messenger, Adobe Reader etc, can improve memory utilization and System start up times. One useful tool that I use for this purpose is Autoruns from Microsoft Technet (previously Sysinternals).

Solid Firewall & Antivirus Freeware Protection for Windows

Comodo Internet Security

If you are looking around for a high quality piece of freeware to protect your Windows PC, try out the Comodo Internet Security Suite from Comodo. The product works on XP/Vista.

Once downloaded, you can choose to install only just the firewall component or both the firewall and antivirus components. For a freeware, this product has been subjected to extensive independent testing by Matousec and received consistently excellent performance ratings.

More than just being free, other compelling reasons to use this product includes that fact that it does not consume much of system resources (CPU & memory) and is continually being updated by Comodo.

I have been running the Comodo Firewall for 2 years now and see absolutely no reason to stop using it anytime soon.

Using Imagecfg.exe To Instruct Programs to Run on A Specific CPU core in Windows

If you own a multicore CPU (e.g. Intel's Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, Quad Core etc), you may wish to dedicate a specific CPU core just for running some programs. In some instances, some programs simply cannot run on multicore CPUs and would need to be assign to one specific CPU core. An example of such a program was mentioned in my earlier Regcleaner posting.

Say for instance you own a Dual Core CPU, your PC's OS would detect the presence of 2 CPUs in your box as CPU0 (0x1) and CPU1(0x2).

To instruct Regcleaner to run on a specific CPU core (say CPU0), you can use the imagecfg.exe program and execute the command like so:

    imagecfg -a 0x1 c:\path\to\Regcleaner.exe

In tech-speak, what we have done is changing the program's (in this case Regcleaner) CPU affinity. If you prefer to assign Regcleaner to the second CPU core instead, use

    imagecfg -a 0x2 c:\path\to\Regcleaner.exe

That's it! Enjoy.

More PC Speed Tips

Earlier, I talked about using JKDefrag to defrag and speed up the Hard disk in Windows. In addition to that, here are some additional tools that I use:

(1) PageDefrag Utility

To squeeze out that additional speed boost from your PC, check out the PageDefrag utility from Microsoft Technet (previously Sysinternals). This program allows you to easily defrag your Windows Pagefile during boot time, every time.

(2) Registry Cleanup Tools

It is no secret that after a period of use and software installation, your Windows registry will bloat to some degree. To trim those unwanted fat off your Windows registry, you could do it manually or turn to some automatic tool. One such tool is Regcleaner by Juoni Vuorio. Be mindful though if you have a Multicore Core CPU. An extra step of assigning CPU affinity for Regcleaner is required. To do that, see my posting on using Imagecfg.exe.

Alternatively, try the wonderful ccleaner. Combine this with the equally handy click&clean utility, trimming unwanted registry fat and removing useless temporary internet cookies and files becomes a real breeze (just with the click of a button).

(3)Registry Compacting Tool

Finally, once you have trimmed those unwanted fat from your registry, you may wish to compact it to squeeze out that additional speed boost. To do that, download, install and execute the NTRegOpt tool.

(4)Turn Off Unnecessary Programs That Load At Startup

Perform a review of the startup programs to access their necessity for loading at startup. Turning off those non-essential startup apps e.g. MSN messenger, Adobe Reader etc, can improve memory utilization and System start up times. One useful tool that I use for this purpose is Autoruns from Microsoft Technet (previously Sysinternals).

Excellent Scheduler Freeware For Windows

nnCron LITE is a small, but full-featured scheduler that can start applications and open documents at a specified schedule. Works with Windows Win9*,ME,NT,2000,XP,Vista. nnCron LITE is a perfect freeware Windows clone of a well-known UNIX scheduler Cron (including all the useful Anacron features). In my personal opinion, nnCron Lite outperforms more reliably than the default Windows Task Scheduler.

To use it to schedule the automatic execution of the cool JKDefragCmd.exe utility to defrag and speed up hard disks in Windows for instance, this is what you can do:

Steps in Brief:
(1) Download nnCron Lite from http://www.nncron.ru/ ,and install it to the directory of your choice (e.g. D:\gnu_fw\cron\). Allow the installer to add nnCron Lite to run and start up as a service automatically in Windows.

(2) When done, navigate into the utility's installed program directory and open up the cron.tab file (you can use any text editor such as notepad or the excellent notepad++)

(3) Entries in the cron.tab file follow the standard Unix/Linux cron convention format. Each field entry is separated from the next by a space, like so:
          # Minutes Hours Days Months WeekDays Command

Note: The # symbol in the above illustration denotes a comment line.

(4) In my case where I use nnCron Lite to schedule my JKDefragCmd.exe file, these are some scheduling options that i have put into my cron.tab file:


          # Minutes Hours Days Months WeekDays Command
          # Uncomment the line immediately below to execute JkDefragCmd.exe for initial run
          # 45 11 * * * "D:\gnu_fw\defrag\JkDefragCmd.exe -a 7 -d 2 c:* d:*"

          # Command line execution of JkDefragCmd.exe (subsequent run) at 12hrs 15min everyday
          15 12 * * * "D:\gnu_fw\defrag\JkDefragCmd.exe -a 3 -d 2 c:* d:*"

As you may have gathered from the above reading, the path "D:\gnu_fw\defrag\" is where i had unpacked the excellent JKDefragCmd.exe defrag software that I run everyday to speed up my hard disk performance in Windows.